OOC Prospective

[harlequinzel]

Character: Harley Quinn (Batman: The Animated Series version)
Mun: Kabby
Plot details: Trying to figure out how to translate canon.

So, for those who aren't familiar with Harley... She's the Joker's "girl"; in an incredibly twisted sense. She was a psychologist brought to work at Arkham, but she sympathized with the Joker and ended up falling for him in the most twisted of ways. She starts off pretty flat as Dr. Harleen Quinzel, but once she becomes Harley Quinn, she's bouncy, perky, and morally twisted.  (Let's ignore the number of times I just used the word 'twisted'.)

I definitely want to play this version of Harley -- The self-deluded, upbeat girl who writes off harming others as a joke. That's who Harley Quinn is.

However, I don't want to depend on an NPC or even another in-game character for her personality to remain as it is. Still, Harley needs a reason to her madness.

There have been times when she's given up the Joker, as short-lived as they are, and remained the same person, so I'm not concerned about her personality remaining the same. It's triggering her in the first place that's my concern.

Now, I could simply write that as being Harley's personality in this AU, but I'm not certain about that. It doesn't feel true to the character. Other ideas I've had are simply having her no longer be involved with the crazed delinquent who turned her into what she is, or -- and this one's odd in an Electra complex-but-not-really kind of way -- having her father be some nutjob criminal, and Harley having been influenced by him, without any actual incestuous feelings, of course.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

Comments

[kid8dik]

Okay, I don't know much about Batman canon, so I'm just going based on what you have here and some limited knowledge.

But if you were thinking of making her, say, a muggleborn to fit with her original origins, you could make it so that she found out she was a witch, and a family friend of her dad/or neighbor could be some crazy wizard guy who lives not exactly on the right side of the law. If you want to avoid the kinda incestyness, that is. He could have seen her do accidental magic in her backyard and took her under his wing. If you want him in and out of her life, he could move away or what have you.

[harlequinzel]

Kris you are forever the coolest. Thank you for your input! That's a great way to spin it, and I like the idea of him moving away so Harley has more potential for personal growth, if that makes sense.

Just a thought...

[doctorkishitani]

The way I see it, Harley is the way she is because she has an especially weak sense of self. She kind of built her identity to compliment the Joker's because she didn't feel like she could stand alone.

Maybe you could sort of fixate on her co-dependant tendencies. Have her be looking for someone to latch on to and do absolutely anything for. It doesn't necessarily always have to be the same person

[harlequinzel]

Oh, I totally agree about the weak sense of self, and her identity being based around the Joker!

Well, I do plan for her to latch onto others at school and devote herself to them! The thing that's tricky is that I really want to keep her recognizable as canon Harley, and if she was going to latch on to a different sort of character than Mister J, that could mess her up. Sooooo... As I have it right now, she has a Joker-ish figure in her history, but still has that really low sense of self-worth at school that leads her to dedicate herself around others, but her main loyalty is still to the person back home so she isn't shaping herself around others if that makes any sense.

[doctorkishitani]

That's a good point and a good way of resolving your dilemma.

I'm having a similar problem -although to a lesser degree. Playing characters who are canonically in defining relationships can be tricky.

So, good for you for giving it a shot. Because Harley's awesome and someone should play her.

[harlequinzel]

Thanks; it's really good to hear that!

Oh, I see! Feel free to PM me if you want me to offer up what I can for help.

Thanks again!